Exodus chapter 6

[gib65]

Hello again everyone,

I am developing a new style. I am grouping all my questions per chapter. That is, rather than asking question about one or another particular passage, I'm reading through the whole chapter and posting whatever questions arise. My source is: https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo...pter-1.htm

So here we go with Exodus chapter 6...

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob with [the name] Almighty God, but [with] My name YHWH, I did not become known to them.

Yes, that's interesting. God only ever reveals his name YHWH to Moses and not to any of the previous patriarchs. Why is this? Why does God decide that Moses is the one to whom to reveal his name?

Also, looking back to chapter 3, there is this:

God said to Moses, "Ehyeh asher ehyeh (I will be what I will be)," and He said, "So shall you say to the children of Israel, 'Ehyeh (I will be) has sent me to you.'"

This may be a matter of translation, of course, but it doesn't exactly say 'YHWH'. But I do recall learning from somewhere that YHWH is shorthand for "Ehyeh asher ehyeh". In this particular translation, 'YHWH' only first shows up in Exodus 6:3, not Exodus 3:14. Is this just a matter of the translation of this source, or does this discrepancy also show up in the original Hebrew?

Also, why would God's name be translated to English without any vowels? Maybe the concept of "vowels" didn't exist in ancient Hebrew language, but I would think that if you're translating from an ancient language to modern English, there wouldn't be any reason to restrict the inclusion of vowels. Spell it how it would have been pronounce, I would think. Is there some kind of sacred tradition or rule about including vowels when translating from the original Hebrew to modern English?

"Come, speak to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and he will let the children of Israel out of his land."

I'm noticing a pattern here. God keeps promising Moses that he will let the Israelites go. But he keeps phrasing it as if it will be the next thing to happen--just after Moses tries to persuade Pharaoh one last time. That is to say, God never tells Moses, not so far at least, that there will be 10 plagues and that Pharaoh will refuse his demands 10 times, before he let's the Israelites go. Even just using the word "eventually" would have been useful to Moses. Why is God omitting this (one would think vital) piece of information?

And these are the names of Levi's sons after their generations: Gershon, Kehath, and Merari, and the years of Levi's life were one hundred thirty seven years.

Amram took Jochebed, his aunt, as his wife, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, and the years of Amram's life were one hundred thirty seven years.

When God lists the "heads of the fathers' houses", he cares to mention the ages of only these two: Levi and Amram. Why? Is it that these two have died but the rest are still alive? And what is the significance of the fact that they lived to exactly the same age?

That is Aaron and Moses, to whom the Lord said, "Take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their legions."
27. They are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to let the children of Israel out of Egypt; they are Moses and Aaron.

I just find this passage a little strange. It seems to really want to emphasize that it was Moses and Aaron that God was speaking to--as if there was some doubt. Just curious if anyone knows why.

But Moses said before the Lord, "Behold, I am of closed lips; so how will Pharaoh hearken to me?"

What does Moses mean by "closed lips", and why is he closed lips? Is he saying "No way I'm doing that again, my lips a sealed"?

About the list of the "heads of the fathers' houses", I note that these are the heads:

1. Reuben
2. Simeon
3. Levi
4. Gershon
5. Kehath
6. Merari
7. Amram --> married Jochebed, Jacob's sister?
8. Izhar
9. Uzziel
10. Aaron
11. Korah
12. Eleazar

I assume these are Jacobs's twelve sons, the twelve tribes of Israel. If so, it raises a lot of questions.

For one, why is God's response to Moses saying "Behold, the children of Israel did not hearken to me. How then will Pharaoh hearken to me, seeing that I am of closed lips?" to list the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel? I mean, I suppose if the twelve tribes are gonna be listed somewhere, here is as good a place as any other, but as a response to Moses's question, it seems completely unnecessary.

Second, Exodus 6:20 says "Amram took Jochebed, his aunt, as his wife, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, and the years of Amram's life were one hundred thirty seven years.". So is Jochebed, Amram's aunt and wife, Jacob's sister (if Amram is indeed 1 of 12 of Jacob's sons)? Or would she be his aunt from Amram's mother's side?

Third, if I'm right that these fathers are the sons of Jacob, why isn't Joseph mentioned? Isn't he a son of Jacob? Maybe this indicates that these are not the sons of Jacob. But if so, is it just a coincidence that Jacob had 12 sons and there happen to be 12 "heads of the fathers' houses"?

Fourth, this same passage tells us that Amram is Aaron's and Moses's father. This is the same Moses and Aaron who are the "protagonists" in the story of Exodus, aren't they? If these 12 "heads of the father's houses" are indeed Jacob's sons, as I'm assuming, it means that only 2 generations have passed since Joseph reigned over Egypt. Is that enough time for 60,000 Hebrews to be enslaved? (I read from some sources that there were 60,000 Hebrews who arrived at Mt. Sinai--maybe another generation was born by then, but still...) I mean, I realize that people in this time lived to a really, really ripe old age (137 years for Amram and Levi), but still, 60,000 Hebrews? This question is, of course, based on my assume that the Hebrew slaves ALL came from Jacob via Joseph, but I could be wrong about this. Perhaps Hebrews of other lineages throughout the land were also taken into slavery. And I maintain my assumption that there were no slaves in Egypt while Joseph was in power (otherwise, why wouldn't he free them?), so I'd be very interested to know if there are any source indicating when the Hebrews became slaves in Egypt and where they came from.

Fifth, why is Aaron listed as one of the "heads of the fathers' houses" as stated in Exodus 6:23: "Aaron took to himself for a wife, Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar." Isn't he a grandson of Jacob, his father Amram already being one of the 12 heads? Or is this a different Aaron?

And finally, who are the 'Levites' in Exodus 6:25: "these are the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the Levites according to their families."? I assume this label is not named after Levi, on of the 12 mentioned, as he is listed as just one among the 12, not the father of them all. Is this telling me that these are not the 12 sons of Jacob, but of another Levi? (That would answer a lot of my questions above, but it raises another: why would God think it necessary to list only the fathers of the Levites?)

Anyway, it would be really good if I had enough information to draw a "family tree" starting from Jacob and ending with Moses and Aaron and their cousins (immediate and distant). I think that would clear up a lot.

PS - I would like everyone to know that I'm not asking anyone to do homework for me. I am capable, and intend, to research this stuff on my own time, but I pose these questions anyway for the sake of stirring discussion and just to diary my thoughts after reading each chapter of Exodus. I am saying, these are the questions that are raised in my mind after reading blah, blah, blah. Everyone is more than welcome to answer these question if you wish, of course, but just want you all to know I'm not being lazy

[Glenn2020]

on your question on 60000 and is it possible, it is absolutely possible.  Remember 70 went into captivity, and they were in captivity for 400 years (so eventhough, as Ex 6 outlines, it was only 3 generations from Levi to Moses, that doesn't mean that all other family trees were 3 generations, some might of had 8 or more generations).  So even a modest birth rate can cause a group to go from 70 to 60000 over 400 years.

BTW, not sure where you're getting 60000 - I thought it was significantly more (million+, but even a million is absolutely doable starting from 70 over a 400 year span, remember "growth is an exponential function!!!)

[gib65]

on your question on 60000 and is it possible, it is absolutely possible.  Remember 70 went into captivity, and they were in captivity for 400 years (so eventhough, as Ex 6 outlines, it was only 3 generations from Levi to Moses, that doesn't mean that all other family trees were 3 generations, some might of had 8 or more generations).  So even a modest birth rate can cause a group to go from 70 to 60000 over 400 years.

BTW, not sure where you're getting 60000 - I thought it was significantly more (million+, but even a million is absolutely doable starting from 70 over a 400 year span, remember "growth is an exponential function!!!)

I'm not sure where I got that number either--I believe I got it from Jordan Peterson's Exodus on DailyWire, or at least googled it while doing research on Peterson's Exodus. Whatever my source was, I remember it saying there were 60,000 freed slaves when Moses brought them to Mt. Sinai.

In any case, I think my mistake was assuming that the slaves in Egypt all descended from Joseph. I understood that the Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years so I always thought that was enough time for Joseph's descendants to multiply to 60,000, but after reading Exodus chapter 6, I now understand that only 3 generations from Jacob, through the 12 heads of the fathers houses, to Moses and Aaron's generation had passed. Even if each father had 12 children, that would be 12 x 12 = 144 (plus the original 12 father plus Jacob would be 157). But this point is moot given that my assumption must be wrong (that all the slaves in Egypt descend from Joseph). If, as you say, there were 70 Hebrews who went into captivity at the beginning (from other lineages besides Joseph) then you're right, 400 years is plenty of time for 70 to multiply to 60,000 (assuming I have that figure right).

[searchinmyroots]

I wouldn't necessarily use Jordan Peterson as a biblical resource!

[gib65]

I've done some research and came across some answers to my questions about the genealogy of Jacob's descendants and the slaves in Egypt. My sources may be questionable but these are the answers I derived from them. Again, my questions were:

Yes, that's interesting. God only ever reveals his name YHWH to Moses and not to any of the previous patriarchs. Why is this? Why does God decide that Moses is the one to whom to reveal his name?

Well, according to https://www.quora.com/Why-does-God-say-h...h-to-Moses, God didn't reveal his name YHWH to Moses only but there are several quotes in Genesis where YHWH is referenced by human characters in the story. The author of the article above, Glenn Brotherton (any relation to Glenn2020?), suggests that what God was revealing was not so much his name but the meaning of his name (I will be what I will be... or whatever the proper translation is).

Yet, the question can be deferred to "Why did God decide to reveal this to Moses and no one before him?" (after all, he did make a point of making this explicit). I wonder if it has anything to do with God wanting to reveal his intentions of, or justifications for, becoming eventually the universal God to which all man would worship? The phrase YHWH connotes both a sense of being intricately intertwined with existence itself and being above all other gods. To say "I will be what I will be" (or more colloquially, "I am that I am") is sometimes (perhaps erroneously) translated as "I am existence" (at least by me). How much more universal, and above all other gods, can you get? This would be a very convenient interpretation since this is the moment when God finally begins to fulfill his promise to the patriarchs to deliver the Israelites to the promise land (and beyond that, to global dominance through Christianity and Islam) and so it seems the appropriate time to reveal to Moses his connection to universality and existence itself.

On the question of "Why would God's name be translated to English without any vowels?" the best answers I could find are a combination of "the ancient Hebrew language didn't have any vowels" and "God's name is too sacred to pronounce"--which in combination sort of answers the question saying essentially that no one wanted to risk translating it with vowels in case they used the wrong vowels, thereby causing readers to mispronounce God's name (or even misrepresent it in writing).

On the question of the generations of Hebrews who were in Egypt after Joseph, I stumbled across a good source by Larry Pierce (https://answersingenesis.org/bible-timel...-question/). He says this about the initial 70 Hebrews who came to Egypt:

When Jacob went down into Egypt his first and second generation went with him, and they totaled a mere seventy souls, including Joseph and his family who already were in Egypt.

So it would seem the original Hebrews in Egypt were all descendants of Jacob after all (though this passage doesn't say they were all slaves).

(And I must confess, this reminded me that Jacob and his descendants did arrive in Egypt after Joseph took rule... I had forgotten that little tid bit from the story.)

BTW, it also mentions that a lot of this genealogy is covered in Numbers, so a lot of my confusion might be cleared away by reading Numbers.

We're also given a graph of Levi's family tree:



One thing this tells me is that I made another mistaken assumption. I assumed that the "heads of the fathers' houses" were all heads of separate lineages. But this graph tells us that Amram (one of the heads) was the son to Levi (another head). Immediately, I thought, "why not?" Why couldn't some of the heads be sons of other heads? It also completely obliterates my other assumption that these 12 heads are the 12 sons of Jacob. Though they might still represent Jacob's 12 sons. This is where I need the expertise of the really smart people here. Was the tradition to always have one representative of Jacob's 12 sons, one head of the 12 tribes, comprising the leaders of the Israelites? If so, it means each such representative need not be a descendent of that particular son of Jacob, for if Levi and Amram, being descendants of the same son of Jacob (or maybe Levi was a son of Jacob) were both heads of houses, then either they both represent the same son of Jacob (in which case there is a 12th son of Jacob not represented), or two members from the same family lineage could represent different sons of Jacob. <-- The latter seems to make more sense at this point in my research.

Another great article that answers many of my questions is https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-st...jacob.html by Lisa Loraine Baker. In it, she says:

Leah gives birth to (1) Reuben, (2) Simeon, (3) Levi, and (4) Judah. Then Rachel gives Bilhah, her servant girl to Jacob, “so that she may give birth on my behalf” (Genesis 30:3). Bilhah bore (5) Dan and (6) Naphtali. When Leah realized she ceased bearing Jacob’s sons (for the moment), she gave her servant, Zilpah to Jacob and she bore him (7) Gad and (8) Asher.
After this, Leah again conceived (twice) and gave birth to (9) Issachar and (10) Zebulun. Rachel finally received the blessing of conception (God has taken away my reproach—Genesis 30:23) and gave birth to (11) Joseph and (12) Benjamin, whom she bore as she died.

So this tells us exactly who the sons of Jacob were, and only the first three are listed as the heads of the fathers' houses (noting also they are listed first and in the same order).

All this assuming that when a name is mentioned in the Torah, it refers to the same characters as elsewhere mentioned (after all, we in the West are used to knowing several "Johns" or "Margos"--it can be hard to keep track).

Larry also tells us this:

The first census Moses took of the children of Israel when they left Egypt totaled to 603,550 males over twenty years of age (Numbers 1:2; 2:32). They had increased from seventy to a mighty nation in just two hundred and fifteen years from the time Jacob entered Egypt to live. During the almost forty years of wilderness wanderings, their population actually decreased slightly to 601,730 (Numbers 26:51)

...confirming my assumption that the number of liberated slaves was roughly 600,000.

As to the question of whether Jochebed is Jacob's sister, the source below says this:

Amram was the son of Kohath and the grandson of Levi, while Jochebed was the daughter of Levi, and therefore his aunt. The Talmud discusses this relationship in the context of the incest prohibitions in Lev. 18:12–14 (BT Sanhedrin 58b).

Source: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/joc...20took,The

Clearly, I was wrong to assume that the heads of the fathers' houses are Jacob's sons.

On the question of when the Hebrews were enslaved and where they came from, Jacob Isaac (Wow! What a name!) has this to say:

Old King Pharaoh died, too, and a new king ascended the throne. He had no sympathy or love for the children of Israel, and chose to forget all that Joseph had done for Egypt. He decided to take action against the growing influence and numbers of the children of Israel. He called his council together, and they advised him to enslave these people and oppress them before they grew too powerful.

Source: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_c...vement.htm

So as soon as a new Pharaoh came to power, the enslavement started. And it seems the victims consisted of those who had gained prominence in Egypt at the time (i.e. those over whom Pharaoh had jurisdiction), as this passage, also by Jacob Isaac, suggests:

Joseph and his brothers died, and the children of Israel multiplied in the land of Egypt. They held important positions and played an important role in the political, cultural, and economic life of the country. It is not surprising that they stirred the jealousy of the native Egyptians who felt outshone by the "foreigners."

And finally, I asked: "And finally, who are the 'Levites' in Exodus 6:25: "these are the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the Levites according to their families."? I assume this label is not named after Levi, one of the 12 mentioned, as he is listed as just one among the 12, not the father of them all."

The Wikipedia articles gives this answer:

According to the Torah, the tribe is named after Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob (also called Israel).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Levi

And it also provides a great family tree starting with Levi and Adinah at the root:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/udxb9h7mg...2qngem4akd&dl=0

This *sort of* answers my question. Levi is the father (or ancestor) of some of the heads of the fathers' houses, but not all. Out of the 12 fathers listed in Exodus 6, I see the following in the tree:

Levi
Gershon
Kehath (Kohath?)
Merari
Amram
Izhar
Uzziel
Aaron

But these are left out:

Reuben
Simeon
Korah
Elerazar

As far as Korah and Elerazar are concerned, they may be from a different mother than Adinah or are descendants further down the tree but not shown in the graph (did Miriam, for example, have children?). Reuben and Simeon, however, are Levi's siblings (as made clear in Baker's quote above), which raises the question of why they are considered among the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites (they are siblings of Levi, not descendants).

So given that my assumption that the 12 heads of the fathers' houses are Jacob's sons is obviously wrong (though some of them are), and that some fathers can be sons of other fathers (and apparently siblings), it is indeed possible for Levi to the be the father (or ancestor) of the others (though I still question why they wouldn't all be listed in the tree from the Wikipedia article).

Though I haven't found answers to all my questions, I think this suffices for Exodus 6. So on to Exodus 7. Stay tuned!

[gib65]

I want to compare these two quotes by Lisa:

After Jacob arrived at his Uncle Laban’s, he fell in love with Rachel when he met her at the shepherd’s well (Genesis 29:9-14). Jacob offered to serve Laban seven years in exchange for Rachel’s hand in marriage. Laban, craftier than Jacob, promised him Rachel, but because tradition dictated the younger was not given before the eldest daughter, he tricked Jacob and sent Leah to him on his wedding night. When confronted about his trickery, Laban agreed to give Rachel to Jacob after the first week of his marriage to Leah. This was based on the condition Jacob would work another seven years for Rachel also. So began a game of wills between the two sisters to “win” Jacob’s love.

Leah gives birth to (1) Reuben, (2) Simeon, (3) Levi, and (4) Judah. Then Rachel gives Bilhah, her servant girl to Jacob, “so that she may give birth on my behalf” (Genesis 30:3). Bilhah bore (5) Dan and (6) Naphtali. When Leah realized she ceased bearing Jacob’s sons (for the moment), she gave her servant, Zilpah to Jacob and she bore him (7) Gad and (8) Asher.

After this, Leah again conceived (twice) and gave birth to (9) Issachar and (10) Zebulun. Rachel finally received the blessing of conception (God has taken away my reproach—Genesis 30:23) and gave birth to (11) Joseph and (12) Benjamin, whom she bore as she died.

^^ I find this absolutely fascinating! Jacob, being renamed "Israel" by none other than God himself, a father of nations to come, the founder of the world renowned religion we call Judaism, began his "dynasty" (for lack of a better word) by reproducing with not just two women, but four! Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun are from Leah. Dan and Naphtali are from Bilhah (a servant girl!). Gad and Asher are from Zilpah (another servant girl). And finally, Joseph and Benjamin are from Rachel. So each and every Israelite could be rest assured that they all came from the same patriarch: Jacob! But who came from which matriarch? That would have been different from one Hebrew to another (at least 3 out of 4 times).

But what I find even more fascinating is that this is how God decides to begin the nation of Israel (to "genealogically engineer" it, so to speak)--one father (Jacob) and four different mothers (Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah)--two of which aren't even married to Jacob! It makes me wonder if God was trying to begin the nation of Israel with a diverse as possible gene pool from the beginning. Leah and Rachel were sisters, of course, but the servant girls--what nationalities/ethnicities/race were they? Could this be how God plans to become a "universal" god? By becoming the God of all nations, ethnicities, races, all human kind? By mixing as many domestic and foreign genes into one bloodline? (In that case, it wouldn't matter that Bilhah and Zilpah were servant girls.)

I also find it kind of a romantic story. Jacob and Rachel, a young couple in love, but forbidden from each by Laban, Rachel's father, and tricked into marrying her older sister instead. And to make matters worse, Rachel is cursed by God to be barren, incapable of bearing sons for Jacob. But not forever--God finally lifts the curse and she is able to bear Jacob two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, but not before she dies giving birth to them. <-- It's romantic and sad... after all this sorrow and torment and unfulfilled longing for each other, the moment Jacob's and Rachel's love can finally be fulfilled (starting a family), she dies. Not only that, but her son Joseph is the one who will go off to become the instrument of God's plan and fulfill his promise to Jacob. It was like God knew that this instrument had to be born from a bond of true love. And once fulfilled, Rachel's life purpose is fulfilled, and can pass on from this world. Wow!

I guess this makes Rachel the "special" matriarch. But why the curse of infertility? Did God want to postpone Joseph's birth for some reason? Did he have to have a bunch of younger brothers? Does this figure into the story of Joseph's being sold into slavery by his brothers?